TVETUK has launched on-the-ground offices in both Kazakhstan and Algeria to meet the growing demand for skills development in the oil & gas industries. The organisation says this will secure more agreements for its membership base of UK providers.
Since 2008, the organisation has forged ties with Kazakh partners. However, the move into Algeria marks a new direction for the group after seeing huge demand for English language tuition as well as vocational upskilling.
“Kazakhstan and Algeria have committed to inspiring far reaching national educational reform, and we believe that this will result in real, sustainable prospects for the UK education providers,” commented TVET UK’s Executive Director, Matthew Anderson.
According to Anderson, the organisation has secured £25 million in contracts during its six-year presence in Kazakhstan. With the new offices in Almaty and Astana, he expects total turnover to grow by at least 5% in the first year.
“With a permanent presence on the ground, we expect to reach the low £30m mark in 2015” he told The PIE News.
Currently, TVET UK members are involved in 13 projects including an initiative with Ravensbourne to build, equip and manage a state-of-the-art digital design college as part of the Kasipkor ‘World Class College’ programme.
Meanwhile in Algeria, Anderson says commercial opportunities are ripe for English language providers, particularly in the higher education sphere. And as oil & gas is the country’s biggest industry, demand for upskilling is “taking off”.
The launch of the office was announced by the British Ambassador to Algeria this month at the Algeria/UK Forum on Trade and Investment.
In its first year on the ground, TVET UK Algeria aims to organise two trade missions and secure three large contracts for members, confirmed Anderson.
The new offices in Kazakhstan and Algeria follow the opening of TVET UK’s first offshore office in Nigeria last year.
